‘Extremist’ speakers cited as CRA censures mosque
Charitable status revoked after audit of Islamic centre flags concerns
The Canada Revenue Agency has revoked the charitable status of an Ottawa mosque because auditors were concerned about its activities — including “extremist” speakers.
The charitable status of the Ottawa Islamic Centre and Assalam Mosque was revoked effective July 14 after an audit found a number of faults with the organization.
These included including failing to devote all of its resources to charitable activities, allowing its resources to be used for activities that promote hate and intolerance, providing resources to non-qualified donees, providing an undue benefit to a director and failing to maintain proper books and records.
Loss of charitable status means donors can no longer deduct from their taxable income money given to the mosque.
The audit, released to the Citizen, says the CRA made inquiries about the organization’s activities because it was concerned about potential for the organization’s guest speakers and lecturers to “displace the public benefit by engaging in activities that promote hate and intolerance.”
The CRA had agreed to register the organization as a charity based on promises that the organization would conduct due diligence on its speakers. But the audit found there was very little to suggest any due diligence about vetting the speakers. The CRA also conducted a sample review of speakers and concluded that their viewpoints “may be incongruous with the concept of public benefit.”
The Citizen was unable to reach a mosque official for comment Thursday evening. However, Muhammad Haile, the mosque secretary and a member of its board of directors, told Global News that the CRA’s decision was a shock. “We don’t tolerate any hate,” he was quoted as saying.
The list of speakers mentioned in the audit includes several controversial clerics, including Abu Usamah At-thahabi, a U.K.-based imam who has been quoted as saying Christians and Jews are enemies to Muslims; Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips, a Jamaica-born Canadian who has been banned from entering several countries; and Said Rageah, a Toronto-area imam who was criticized in 2009 for calling on God to “damn” infidels.
Some of the events were organization by members of the congregation, and not by the mosque’s directors, said the audit, which also praised the organization for alerting the appropriate authorities to individuals who appear to have been radicalized. The name of one such individual was redacted in the CRA audit.
“The Organization, by allowing these individuals to make use of its facilities, and to speak to an audience consisting of its parishioners, is providing its guest speakers with a de facto endorsement,” said the audit.
The audit was also critical of the board’s “passive approach” to speakers, relying on suggestions from members of its congregation, and “often approving speakers without any knowledge of the content of the lectures that were to be delivered, and in some cases allowing speakers to attend the mosque against the board’s wishes.
“The Organization acknowledged that it allowed its premises to be used by individuals and groups with extremist views. The Organization recognizes that certain people made decisions about guest speakers and lecturers without appropriate due diligence and oversight,” the audit said.
Between 2009 and 2013, two directors made all the decisions about the organization, including approving speaking events. They encouraged the youth group and other groups to organize these events, and other directors were not aware of the activities until they happened, auditors found. The organization told the auditors its board is now committed to ensuring that it is not controlled by external forces or promoting extremist views.
The CRA asked the organization to provide written transcripts or recordings of the speaking engagements, but the organization was unwilling or unable to produce them, the audit said.
In 2012 and 2013, the CRA asked on four occasions for a complete list of guest speakers, it said. But that list was “grossly deficient” compared to the number of events the CRA identified through its own research. The organization has not lived up to it obligation to maintain adequate books and records on guest speakers, the audit concluded.
During an audit interview, the organization said it covered the travel expenses of speakers, but only provided records of eight people. The CRA’s supplementary research showed that an additional 28 people spoke in the organization’s facilities.
The organization’s website describes it as “playing a positive active role in the lives of the Islamic community (beneficiers of the Islamic Centre and Assalam Mosque) in the Ottawa-Carleton area.”
The mosque has weathered tough times in the past. Established in 2002 at a space on Terminal Avenue, the mosque moved in 2005 to its current location in an east-end industrial park at the corner of St. Laurent Boulevard and Thurston Drive. In 2009 the mosque’s imam, Mohamed Rashad, died on the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, collapsing while climbing Mount Arafat.
In 2010, the organization was carrying a debt of $1.2 million and was fundraising to reduce its debt. That same year, after the organization was granted charitable status, the City of Ottawa reduced its tax arrears from $678,000 to $186,000.
The CRA audits 800 to 900 registered charities across Canada each year.
The Organization acknowledged that it allowed its premises to be used by individuals and groups with extremist views.